Internal Exile in Fascist Italy

Internal exile in Fascist Italy offers a clear and concise introduction to confino, a form of imprisonment used during the Fascist ventennio that saw antifascist dissidents exiled to remote islands or tiny inland villages.

The book examines confino from a historical, political, social and cultural perspective, through both a broad overview and close analyses of particular cases and situations. The book is organised in two sections. Part one provides a case study of the political colony on the island of Lipari and a historical overview of internal exile. Part two focuses representations of confinement in literature and film. It examines the varieties of self-expression -memoirs, letters, and literature - used by prisoners to describe their experiences and investigates how filmmakers interpret these events, places, and people; particularly exploring how film portrays the repression of homosexuality.

The act of confinement was a tool that allowed Mussolini to bypass the judiciary, and to targeted political dissidents, ethnic and religious minorities, and members of the gay community among others. This book seeks to contextualise a political practice that continues to find applications in twenty-first-century detention policies; and to enhance the understanding of how contemporary social discourse promotes political agendas rooted in issues - such as populism, anti-terrorism, nationalism and ethnocentrism - that are historically related to Fascism's suppression of dissidents

Internal exile in Fascist Italy offers a coherent and accessible portrait of confino in its various manifestations. The authors argue that internal exile is not purely political: it possesses a cultural history that speaks to the present. Although directed towards students and specialists of Italian history, literature, film and culture, the study is accessible to those with a general interest in Fascism.